La Liga leaders Girona will be aiming to return to winning ways when they resume their league campaign with a home match against a struggling Sevilla outfit on Sunday night.
Girona were surprisingly held to a goalless draw by basement side Almeria last weekend, while Sevilla suffered a 3-2 home defeat to Alaves in their last match in Spain's top flight.
Match preview
© Reuters
Girona failed to take full advantage of the presence of Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, with Michel's side being held to a goalless draw by bottom-of-the-table Almeria last weekend.
The point was enough to move them to the top of the division above Real Madrid, though, with the Catalan outfit picking up 49 points from 20 matches this season courtesy of a record of 15 wins, four draws and one defeat, and their performance has been one of the major stories in European football this season.
Girona will enter this match off the back of a win, having beaten Rayo Vallecano 3-1 in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday evening to progress to the quarter-finals of the competition.
The White and Reds, who are only in their fourth-ever campaign at this level, will take on Real Sociedad, Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao in their opening three league games of February, and it will be fascinating to see where they are in the table in around a month.
Girona have the fourth-best home record in La Liga this season, picking up 25 points from their 10 matches, and they will be hosting a Sevilla side that have won just once on their travels in the league this term.
© Reuters
Sevilla will enter this match off the back of a victory, beating Getafe 3-1 on Tuesday evening to secure their spot in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey.
However, there is no getting away from the fact that it has been a desperately disappointing campaign for the club, who have lost each of their last three league games against Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Alaves.
Quique Sanchez Flores's side are 17th in the table on 16 points, just one point ahead of 18th-placed Cadiz, and it would be fair to say that they are in a relegation battle at this stage of the campaign.
Sevilla, who also finished bottom of their Champions League group this term, last played outside of Spain's top flight during the 2000-21 campaign, and it would be one of the biggest shocks in recent memory if they were relegated this season.
Los Nervionenses suffered a 2-1 defeat to Girona in the reverse meeting between the two sides earlier this season, and they have actually lost each of their last four top-flight affairs with the Catalan outfit.
Team News
© Reuters
Girona will definitely be missing three players through injury on Sunday, with Joel Roca, Ricard Artero and Toni Villa unavailable for selection, while Eric Garcia remains a major doubt due to a muscular issue.
The division leaders will also be unable to call upon either Aleix Garcia or David Lopez through suspension, so there will have to be at least one change to the side that started in the league against Almeria last time out.
Savio started against Rayo in the Copa del Rey and is now likely to come back into the league XI, while Artem Dovbyk will return at centre-forward despite Cristhian Stuani's brace in the last game.
As for Sevilla, Djibril Sow, Kike Salas, Nemanja Gudelj, Dodi Lukebakio, Marcos Acuna and Orjan Nyland are unavailable for selection through injury.
The visitors will also be missing Boubakary Soumare, with the midfielder picking up a milestone booking in the team's 3-2 loss to Alaves in La Liga last time out.
Youssef En-Nesyri is also unavailable, with the striker representing Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations, so there could be another start for Isaac Romero following his brace against Getafe in the Copa del Rey.
Girona possible starting lineup:
Gazzaniga; A Martinez, Juanpe, Blind, Gutierrez; Couto, Martin, Torre, Valery; Savio; Dovbyk
Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Dmitrovic; Juanlu, Ramos, Bade, Pedrosa; Suso, Agoume, Rakitic, Torres; Ocampos, Romero
We say: Girona 2-1 Sevilla
Sevilla certainly have enough quality to pick up a positive result this weekend, but Girona will be determined to return to winning ways in Spain's top flight. We are expecting a close match in terms of the scoreline but are backing Girona to navigate their way to another three points.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Matt Law
